Ayn Rand on Welfare & Poverty

Wealth is the product of man's capacity to think

Ayn Rand said, "Wealth is the product of man's capacity to think." Financial literacy is financial intelligence. The reason we wrote "Why We Want You to Be Rich" is because the more independent people become, the stronger a nation becomes as a whole.
As we've noticed with the recent upheaval on Wall Street, things aren't always as solid as they seem. That calls for individual responsibility and financial intelligence. I have always been wary of the stock market.
It's a gamble, but it can be lucrative, which is the lure.

In short, there are no guarantees. That means being alert to nation and world markets. Do your homework daily I shouldn't need to emphasize this if you've paid attention to what's
transpired in the United States from 2006 until now, which is late 2008. There was an implosion in the financial sector that was unprecedented in our history. I see it as a wake-up call.

Impossible right to economic security implies slave labor

Morally, the promise of an impossible 'right' to economic security is an infamous attempt to abrogate the concept of rights. It can and does mean only one thing: a promise to enslave the men who produce, for the benefit of those who don't.
If some men are entitled by right to the products of the work of others, it means that those others are deprived of rights and condemned to slave labor.

Capitalism eliminates poverty

Capitalism has created the highest standard of living ever known on earth. The evidence is incontrovertible. The contrast between west and east Berlin is the latest demonstration, like a laboratory experiment for all to see.
Yet those who are loudest in proclaiming their desire to eliminate poverty are loudest in denouncing capitalism. Man's well being is not their goal.

Capitalism is the only system that overcomes poverty

If concern for human poverty and suffering were one's primary motive, one would seek to discover their cause. Why did some nations develop, while others did not? Why have some nations achieved material abundance, while others have remained stagnant in
subhuman misery? History and, specifically, the unprecedented prosperity-explosion of the 19th century, would give an immediate answer: capitalism is the only system that enables men to produce abundance--and the key to capitalism is individual freedom.